1917.] W. E. CoLi^iNGE : ^4 new specie^ of Isopoda. 3 



margin is a small denticulate spine ; endopodite with straight inner 

 margin and cut away on the outer side. 



Length 7*5 mm. Colour (in alcohol) varying from a slaty- 

 grey to yellow with irregular sepia-coloured markings. 



H.abitat.^K.i\3k.dir3i{, Ramnad District. From coral reefs. 

 r2-ii-i9i3. No. ^'^a.^ (5. w. Kemp). 



Type. — In the collection of the Indian Museum. 



This species exhibits a slight relationship to S. harfordi, Bene- 

 dict and 5. angulata, Benedict, from both, however, it differs in 

 a number of structural features. It agrees with the former spe- 

 cies in the form of the cephalon and in having the small rounded 

 median notch or indentation on the posterior margin of the meta- 

 some. In the form of the mesosomatic and metasomatic segments 

 it is not unlike 5. angulata. 



The mouth parts are undescribed for most species of this 

 genus. In 5. variegata the outer lobe of the ist maxilla terminates 

 in eight denticulate spines. Harger ' states that in S. nodidosa 

 (Kroyer) the outer lobe is armed with stout, curved, denticulate 

 spines, and shows nine of these in his figure. 



Stebbing* in his description of S. hirtipes ( Milne-Ed w.), states 

 that there are ten or eleven spines on the outer lobe in that spe- 

 cies, some of which are denticulate, and that the inner lobe is nar- 

 row at both ends and has two, rather long, plumose setae. 



The 2nd maxilla in 5, nodulosa, as figured by Harger, is very 

 distinct from anything I have seen in any other species of this 

 genus. 



The maxillipedes of S. variegata are short and wide, a charac- 

 ter common to most members of the genus. 



The 2nd, 3rd and 4th segments of the mesosome are subequal 

 and longer than the remaining three. This feature is more appar- 

 ent in the wider female than in the male. All the segments are 

 convex and the pleural plates of 1-4 stand out slightly. There is 

 no trace of the coxal plates on the dorsal side. 



In S. harfordi the lateral margins of all of the pleural plates 

 are straight and in 5, angulata the margins of segments r-4 are 

 angulate, those of 5-7 only being straight. In 5. variegata the 

 condition of the lateral margins of segments 1-4 and 5-7 forms a 

 link between the two above mentioned species. In the rst seg- 

 ment the angles are rounded anteriorly and posteriorly and in 2, 

 3 and 4 the anterior angle is produced forward slightly and the 

 posterior angle rounded ; the remaining segments are truncate. 



The metasome is rather wider than in S. harfordi, and more 

 bluntly pointed than in 5. angulata. 



i Repf. U.S. Fish and F. Coniins., 1878 (1880), p. 299, pi. vi, Hg. 35c-. 

 ■^ So/it// Africa// Cf/ist., pt. H, p. 6l (1902). 



